Vegetable Spring Rolls with Peanut Dipping Sauce

This spring roll recipe is good, but the peanut dipping sauce is the BEST! I can’t even describe how good it is, there are no words. I could drink it by the gallon. Peanut butter, lemongrass, ginger, garlic, hoisin sauce – all these flavors work so well together. It’s like a flavor explosion in your mouth!

Vegetable Spring Rolls with Peanut Dipping Sauce

Ingredients
1 carrot, peeled and cut into long matchsticks
1 green pepper, cut into long matchsticks
1 red pepper, cut into long matchsticks
1 cucumber, cut into long matchsticks
Romaine lettuce leaves
6 ounces Asian rice vermicelli noodles
Round rice sheets
Sprigs of cilantro and/or Thai basil, mint

Directions
Chop all of the veggies and set aside.

Boil and drain noodles per package instructions. Cool under water. Set aside.
One at a time, soak rice sheets into warm water to soften. Use a shallow dish or pie plate for this step. Lay a rice sheet on a towel covered work surface. Working quickly, place some noodles, vegetables, lettuce, and a few herb leaves on the near side of the rice round. Roll mixture forward (in egg roll fashion) one revolution then add additional vegetables. Tuck ends inward and finish the roll. Continue making rolls until ingredients are exhausted.

For Peanut Dipping Sauce:
1 small piece of lemongrass, chopped
Freshly grated ginger-to taste
1 cup water
½ cup hoisin sauce
3 tablespoons smooth peanut butter
1½ tablespoons sugar

In a small sauce pan, simmer lemon grass in the water for 5 minutes, strain out the lemongrass and add the remaining ingredients to the water. Whisk well and simmer an additional 5 minutes. If the sauce doesn’t thicken, whisk for one minute over medium heat. Pour into individual serving cups and serve with spring rolls.